Rain
by rainbowthefox
Summary: Garu enjoyed having peace and quiet around his house during the day. It was quite an impossible thing to manage with Tobe, Abyo, and, lord forbid, Pucca bothering him during the day. But when the village experiences a storm one morning, Garu learns that even the most clingy people can make him content. (Garu X Pucca)


I always enjoyed the sound of the rain.

Through the mornings it'd start off as a light rhythm. Light enough that it was barely noticeable to many unless they had a silent home, much like how I did. Besides Mio's soft purring as he rubbed against my leg through my meditation stages, things were pretty quiet for the most of the morning. If I were lucky, the weather would last long enough through the entire day that I could listen to all the drops making tapping noises on my roof.

It was much more enjoyable than my encounters with Tobe, which usually ended up in several battles that lasted a couple of seconds before I managed to defeat him. Abyo's constant challenges to brawls never helped, either. I couldn't really complain, though. They weren't as bad as Pucca.

I felt myself exhale a bit sharply through my nose at the thought of her. Her constant kisses and hugs she gave me throughout the day..._blegh_. I wish I could just plead for her to stop over and over again, but I respected my vow of silence too much to even think of letting out a word. I could see why she took every opportunity she had to lay her hands on me. I couldn't object at all; just by either shoving her away or rubbing her kisses off. Neither stopped her.

I narrowed my closed eyes. What a pity to know that someone had an advantage over me.

I felt Mio brush against my leg as he made his way onto my lap. I opened one eye as I watched him rub his head against my stomach; letting out a purr while he did so. I closed my eyes as I ran my gloved hand across from his head to his tail, focusing on the sound of the raindrops and of the thunder outside.

A sudden banging noise made both of us jump. My eyes shot open as I felt air suddenly being lifted out from my lungs. I looked around, only to realize that I had fallen over the table behind me. Mio was currently clinging onto my hood for dear life, his claws slightly jabbing my pigtails. My eyes then darted over to my front door, only to realize that it had been slammed open. A figure stood in the middle of the doorway as some lightning struck in the background. I felt my eyes widen as I realized who it was.

Pucca.

My muscles tensed as I got the natural urge to run away like I usually did, but I stopped myself from doing so once I had noticed her tears. They didn't seem that fresh, looking as if they had started drying a few minutes ago, but her eyes still watered as some new ones fell onto her cheeks. I felt a twinge of pain enter my chest, and I placed a gloved hand over the stitched heart on my clothing upon instinct. Instead of running towards me to give me multiple kisses like she always did, she simply just closed the doors behind her as she lowered her head, staring at the floor in silence.

I arched one of my eyebrows in confusion as I felt myself stare at her back. I didn't know why she was upset, and, quite frankly, I didn't really want to. It wasn't any of my business and getting into it was a rather useless thing to do. I had much more important things to focus on instead of drama, of course. Like honor.

But when she turned back to me, multiple streams of tears running down from her face, I felt my chest tighten. It wasn't something I hadn't experienced before, rather than from tough battles in the past, but this was...different. Almost as if it were...guilt.

I felt myself blink. What did _I_ have to be guilty over!?

Pucca made her way over towards me and extended her arms out. I felt my eyes widen in fear at the thought being hugged for the 50th time today, but had relaxed once I realized she was merely motioning for Mio, who had gladly jumped in her arms. She sniffled as she sat down across from me, petting the cat in her arms as he nuzzled his head against her.

After a few seconds of standing and watching them, I felt myself exhale as I cautiously sat back down, eyes fixated on Pucca for any sudden movements. She seemed to ignore me as she continued to pet Mio, her tears starting to dry. I remained tense for a few moments before closing my eyes, trying to resume my meditation. No need to remain paranoid if nothing's going to happen, anyway.

Apparently, I was wrong.

I heard something drag across the floor, the noise seeming to echo within the small room. I opened my eyes to see what it was, only to realize that Pucca had scooted over from where she was sitting and in front of me, leaning a bit backwards so that her shoulders rested against my chest. I felt my eyes widen at the sudden motion as I inhaled the scent of strawberries. Possibly from her hair, I assumed.

On a normal occasion, I'd push her out of my lap and would run as far as I could away from her, but I didn't. Which was quite odd, figuring I was always used to the urge of pushing her away from the constant affection she gave me, but this time it was...different. I felt myself stiffen at the thought.

Was I actually ENJOYING this!?

No. I couldn't be. Romance wasn't apart of honor. It went against every ninja moral I knew, and, therefore, was unnecessary. Being lovey-dovey was the complete opposite of being menacing and brave. Maybe I was just..._appreciating_ it, is all. Pucca feeling better, that is.

Yeah. That sounded right. But when did I ever care for her well-being instead of respecting it?

Mio's purrs snapped me back into reality as I realized that Pucca had not moved from her last position. She giggled as Mio brushed against her, motioning for her to pet him again. And she obliged; running her hand across his body to the tip of his tail. I felt an odd feeling rise in my chest at this, and my left eye twitched a bit.

I didn't know what I was feeling, exactly. My emotions seemed completely mixed beyond this point and all I knew was that my heartbeat increased within each second she leaned on me. I felt myself sweat as my cheeks started to warm, my eyes fixated on Pucca's figure before me. Once I noticed Mio was off of her lap, I did the last thing I thought I would ever do.

My actions were several steps ahead of me as I suddenly lifted Pucca off from the ground and onto my lap. A noise came out from her throat in surprise as I wrapped my arms around her, holding her body closer to mine. It was then I managed to inhale the scent of her clothes, which, surprisingly, smelt much like her hair. Somewhat like raspberries, I assumed.

Pucca was stiff in my grasp for a few moments until she seemed to realize the position that we were in. I felt her muscles relax as she went limp in my arms. She then carefully adjusted her position on my lap so she was able to rest her hands on my chest, nuzzling her head against my shoulder. I felt my eyes widen as my heartbeat increased, the blush on my cheeks growing redder by the minute.

I held onto her a bit tighter as she enhanced our embrace, wrapping her arms around my neck, bringing our bodies even closer. I could feel her breath against my clavicle as I rested my head against the end of her shoulder, moving her legs so that they curved at the side of my body. We remained like that for awhile; holding each other close as we both listened to the sound of the rain outside. I exhaled through my nose as a smile crawled onto my face.

Why couldn't everyday be like this?


End file.
